Drink This In

Making it through each day, one sip at a time!

Thursday, September 27, 2007

Tibetan Monks Mandala

Tibetan Monks to create Mandala Sand PaintingTraverse City: The Dennos Museum Center at Northwestern Michigan College will present Healing the Earth: A Sacred Art by the Tibetan Lamas of Drepung Loseling Monastery from October 4 – 7, 2007 at the Dennos Museum Center. The visiting monks will create over a four-day period an exquisite Mandala Sand Painting in the sculpture court of the museum.From all the artistic traditions of Tantric Buddhism, that of painting with colored sand ranks as one of the most unique and exquisite. In Tibetan this art is called dul-tson-kyil-khor, which literally means "mandala of colored powders." Millions of grains of sand are painstakingly laid into place on a flat platform over a period of days or weeks.Formed of a traditional prescribed iconography that includes geometric shapes and a multitude of ancient spiritual symbols, the sand-painted mandala is used as a tool for re-consecrating the earth and its inhabitants.On previous US tours the lamas have displayed this sacred arts in museums across the country, including the Arthur Sackler Gallery, Washington; Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago; Peabody Essex Museum, Salem; the Indianapolis Art Museum, Indianapolis; and the Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth.The lamas begin the work by drawing an outline of the mandala on the wooden platform, which requires the remainder of the day. The following days see the laying of the colored sands, which is effected by pouring the sand from traditional metal funnels called chak-pur. Each monk holds a chak-pur in one hand, while running a metal rod on its grated surface; the vibration causes the sands to flow like liquid.Traditionally most sand mandalas are destroyed shortly after their completion. This is done as a metaphor of the impermanence of life. The sands are swept up and placed in an urn; to fulfill the function of healing, half is distributed to the audience at the closing ceremony, while the remainder is carried to a nearby body of water, where it is deposited. The waters then carry the healing blessing to the ocean and from there it spreads throughout the world for planetary healing. The Dennos Museum Center is open daily 10 AM to 5 PM and Sundays 1-5 PM. Admission is $4.00 adults, $2.00 for children and free to museum members. For more information on the Museum and exhibition, go to http://www.dennosmuseum.org/ or call 231-995-1055. The Dennos Museum Center is located at 1701 East Front Street, Traverse City, MI 49686, at the entrance to the campus of Northwestern Michigan College.

Now, this would even cooler to see, and I do plan on going all the time, cause ITS FREE TO NMC STUDENTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Monk Dancers

Tibetan Monks Perform “Sacred Music Sacred Dance for World Healing”at Dennos Museum Center October 6, 2007Traverse City: – The famed multiphonic singers of Tibet’s Drepung Loseling Monastery, whose sellout performances in Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center received national acclaim, will perform Sacred Music Sacred Dance for World Healing in Traverse City as part of their international tour of The Mystical Arts of Tibet. The concert will be presented in the Milliken Auditorium of the Dennos Museum Center at Northwestern Michigan College on Saturday October 6, 2007 at 8 PM. Tickets are $25 in advance, $28 at the door, $22 for Museum Members. Call the Museum Box office at 231-995-1553 or buy tickets on line at http://www.dennosmuseum.org/.The Mystical Arts of Tibet tour is co-produced by Richard Gere Productions and Drepung Loseling Institute, the North American Seat of Drepung Loseling Monastery, India. Endorsed by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the tour has three basic purposes: to make a contribution to world peace and healing; to generate a greater awareness of the endangered Tibetan civilization; and to raise support for the Tibetan refugee community in India.The performance features multiphonic singing, wherein the monks simultaneously intone three notes of a chord. The Drepung Loseling monks are particularly renowned for this unique singing. They also utilize traditional instruments such as 10-foot long dung-chen horns, drums, bells, cymbals and gyaling trumpets. Rich brocade costumes and masked dances, such as the Dance of the Sacred Snow Lion, add to the exotic splendor.The monks of Drepung Loseling have a very distinguished modern-day musical history. On past tours they have performed with Kitaro, Paul Simon, Philip Glass, Eddie Brickell, Natalie Merchant, Patti Smith, the Beastie Boys, and the Grateful Dead’s Mickey Hart, to name but a few.In addition, two of their recordings achieved top-10 listings on the New Age charts: Tibetan Sacred Temple Music (Shining Star Productions) and Sacred Tibetan Chants (Music and Arts Program of America, Inc.). Their most recent recording, Compassion (Milennia Music), pairs them with the Abbey of Gethsemani Schola in an encounter of Gregorian chant with Tibetan multiphonic singing.Their music was featured on the Golden Globe-nominated soundtrack of the film Seven Years in Tibet, starring Brad Pitt (Columbia Pictures) and they performed with Philip Glass in Lincoln Center in the live presentation of his award-winning score to the Martin Scorsese film Kundun (Disney).In response to the September 11 tragedies, they had the honor of creating special mandalas and leading prayer ceremonies and meditations in New York and Washington. Organized in conjunction with the Smithsonian Institution, these events were dedicated to the healing and protection of America.The Loseling monks have twice been featured artists at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, representing Tibetan culture, and in July 2003 enjoyed the rare honor of representing Tibet in the Cultural Olympiad of Greece, a pre-Olympic celebration of World Sacred Music and Dance. For this event the monks toured Greece and performed at venues that included the Acropolis and ancient Olympia, the historic site of the original Olympics. The Dennos Museum Center is open daily 10 AM to 5 PM and Sundays 1-5 PM. Admission is $4.00 adults, $2.00 for children and free to museum members. For more information on the Museum and exhibition, go to http://www.dennosmuseum.org/ or call 231-995-1055. The Dennos Museum Center is located at 1701 East Front Street, Traverse City, MI 49686, at the entrance to the campus of Northwestern Michigan College.

Books, Travel, and Friends

I've been looking at this sweater, And I'm not sure if I want it, I think I do, but oh I don't know. . . heh

So These are few other books that I just got, They are for my ENG 311 class: Teching Adolesents, which is a great class due to the fact that it is giving my a ton of idea's when I start teaching High School.

So this past weekend, I was in Canada for my Uncle Denny's 60 b-day, it was a lot of fun seeing people I haven't seen in soo long. But coming home was a long drive, nearly seven hours, and we had to wait an hour to get across the border, it was really long. But I went over and saw Tom, it was nice cause he was away on business for about a week, it sucked last week, but I hope this week will be better.

Sara wants to take pics of me, heh, I'm always a little camera shy, so I'm not sure, but I think I'll let her, it might not be that bad. LOL, It's cool that we've been hanging out lately, I've known her for soo long that its great.

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Books, and Sleep

This is one of the books I have been reading on the sly from school. It is really good, and a lot like "God Shaped Hole" by Tiffany DeBartolo, which everyone should read, because it is soooo damn good.

Anyways, Tom is gone on business this week, and its been a little hard without him hear. Heh, I'm not sure if we get a place that it would be good being all alone LOL, oh well.

Anyways, This weekend my bro, nic, mom, and myself are going to London Canada for my Uncles surprise 60th bday. It should be a lot of fun. I'm going to ask my cousin who lives in Toronto about coming this Spring Break, I really loved Toronto, and didn't get the whole experience the last time I went. I miss it.

But I am getting a bit tired from classes, and of course I didn't really sleep last night, so I am a bit burnt out, and now I have to return to the Learnatorium, heh (my nickname for school)

Friday, September 14, 2007

Conversation on a plane

Conversation on a plane A stranger was seated next to a little girl on the airplane when the stranger turned to her and said, "Let's talk. I've heard that flights go quicker if you strike up a conversation with your fellow passenger." The little girl, who had just opened her book, closed it slowly and said to the stranger, "What would you like to talk about?" Oh, I don't know", said the stranger. "How about nuclear>power?" "OK," she said. "That could be an interesting topic. But let me ask you a question first. A horse, a cow, and a deer all eat grass, the same stuff. Yet a deer excretes little pellets, while a cow turns out a flat patty, and a horse produces clumps of dried grass. Why do you suppose that is?" The stranger thinks about it and says, "Hmmm, I have no idea," To which the little girl replies, "Do you really feel qualified to discuss nuclear power when you don't know shit?"

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Work and Classes

Serious idiots at my work. . . not my fellow workers, but a certain person of my management. He has been scheduling me to work at 5 on tuesday nights. Well I don't get out of class until 5:10. . . and it sometimes takes me a while to get home. Moron. . . I have put it in writing that I cannot be to work until 5:30, to 5:45. . . -.-; Wow, what does it take to get this through his mind. If he asks me to leave early from class I will blow up at him again, and go to the higher ups at work. . .I'm tired of him.

In any case, Tom's b-day went well, he likes the coffee maker I got him, and we went to Olive Garden with Rob, Ashley, Sara, and Warren. It was a lot of fun. And now I am off to class once again. History 111 US to 1865, its pretty good, a bit boring right now, but I'm suer it will eventually get interesting.

Wednesday, September 05, 2007

Work, School, Camping

Okay,

So I know that I have really been slacking in this department, but the last few weeks have been crazy busy for me. Work was insane at the end of August, I was working at least three doubles a week, and so inturn took its toll on my body, and I am still trying to get over my sinus infection. But other then that. . . School started last week. I was originally taking five classes. History 101 Western Civ to 1500CE (common era) History 111 U.S. to 1865 History 355 (at GVSU university center) Middle Ages US 201 (online) American Lit 2

But then I meet with my advisor, and she said that I should be taking another class instead, and that I should drop two to take this one cause its 311 class, (which anyone who has taken 100, 200 level classes realizes that they get a lot harder as they go up, so 311 will require a bit of time. . . . ) So I dropped American Lit2, and US201, to take 311 Teaching Adolescents. . . .*sighs* And I had already missed the first class so I had to play catch-up. . . ugh I really hate that. . .

Anyways, so this weekend Tom and I are going camping in Fayette with my parents, I'm really excited. . . I haven't had a weekend off in a really long time. . .It should be a lot of fun though, I'm excited to show this place to Tom, I hope he likes it.